How to Use a Recruiter to Get a Job

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Pat Goodwin with Pat Goodwin Associates dot com. Today, we're going to talk about how do you use a recruiter to find a job. What I would suggest you think about, when using a recruiter, is that they don't find you a job. That's one of the first things they are going to tell you. All recruiters, nationwide, typically work fee paid by the client company. They are either contingency recruiters that they get paid once the individual starts work, or they are retained recruiters, that they get paid during the search, but they don't get the balance of the fee until after the individual has started search, started to work. Recruiters are experienced or highly experienced in specific areas. So, when you begin to think about using a recruiter, I would focus on finding a recruiter who specializes in your area of work. You can go to almost any state and look up the recruiting organization in that state. As an example in Texas, it's www. tapc.org. That stands for the Texas Association of Personnel Consultants. Maybe in California it would be CAPC, the California Association of Personnel Consultants dot org. Then you can go and look at the membership and screen down to the city or the recruiter that works that area of specialty and then make the introduction that you have found them on that specific website. You understand that they work that particular area of specialty, and you would like to work with them to see if they happen to have in your search of assignments, currently where your background would be a fit. If you approach them in that manner, instead of approaching them in finding you a job, then you could partner with them a lot better. They are going to be impressed with the way that you approach them. It's like you don't need a doctor very often, you don't need a lawyer very often, and you may not use a recruiter very often, but when you do, you want to identify a recruiter that can partner with you, maybe throughout your career. You may, turn around, and find that you can use this recruiter to fill positions within the company that you've gone to work for. So, they understand that they need to treat you professionally so you would consider using them in the future. There are many clients that I've worked with, in the past, that may not have been placed by the recruiter they used when they go to another job and use a recruiter, but the recruiter they use is the one that's treated them most professionally. So, keep that in mind. Ask them how long they've been in business and see if they would share with you what their area of expertise is. They may be a retained recruiter who will tell you who their actual clients are. So, they are not going in the back door and stealing individuals from the companies they place in. That's really against an honor code, an honor code within recruiters. So, in finding a recruiter, you want to specialize with a recruiter that works in your area of work. You want to partner with them. Find out what the rules are. How often will they call you? How soon might they find something for you? How often might you check back? Will they follow up with you after the interview to let you know how you've done? What's the feedback from the company? Are they going to prepare you for the interview? And if those are yes to most of those questions, then I think you will have found that you've had a really good recruiter who is going to help you find a job, keeping in mind that they're going to help place you with one of the company's that they represent."